"And why exactly is this such a big issue? Does the Aldreach Laboratory hold some special secrets inside it?" Revan asked, his pinkie finger digging through his ear.
Charlie sighed at the way Revan closed one eye and looked at him with the other as if to convey: "This conversation is boring".
The two were alone in the throne room, but the king was not sitting on his throne. The matter at hand was too pressing for him to simply relax. Hence, he and Revan were both conversing while standing.
"Yes, the Aldreach Laboratory is a major strength of Aethelgard. You see, this laboratory, since its creation, has been used not only for heavy experimentation, but also to control the resources of other planets that are under Aethelgard's ownership."
Like how one conquered and owned land, a being who could travel to multiple planets could conquer and own a planet as well. They merely had to be strong enough for it.
However, conquering a planet isn't easy, even if it doesn't have any inhabitants. The threat to the conqueror's life was clearly evident, as well as the taxes they would face if they were to live under a nation, so individuals mostly think of conquering entire planets by themselves as a foolish move.
Hence, most planets conquered are under kingdoms and republics rather than individuals. Aethelgard, being one of the — if not the most — prosperous nations on the planet, obviously held the largest number of planets under its authority.
"Most of the planets we hold are controlled by the Aldreach Laboratory, as it is our main hub for Planetary Administration. Now that this laboratory is gone, our strength has been severely weakened against the rebels. At this rate, the chances of this nation becoming a Republic are far higher than at least seventy percent."
"Seventy percent?" Revan raised his eyebrows, pulling his finger away from his ear and placing his hand in his pants pocket. "That's quite a large number."
"It is indeed, and not without reason. You see, one of the planets that we have conquered is called Karsawa. This is quite a unique planet as it has even more Vyr than Varkana, the planet we live on. If Karsawa's Vyr reserves were used to the fullest, it would be an absolute disaster for us."
Aethelgard obviously didn't have the entirety of Varkana under its reign, and yet the rebels had complete control over the entirety of Karsawa. Karsawa was also an uninhabitable planet; its Vyr reserves were too much for life to survive.
Charlie recalled how an Aethelgard general once went to Karsawa a hundred years after it was conquered alongside one hundred of his best men. He wanted to investigate why life didn't exist there and what ways could be used to remedy that.
However, upon arriving there using [Mass Spatial Travel], an evolved version of [Spatial Travel], all the men except the general immediately felt their organs burst, as if a massive level of oathweight had struck them, and as they spat out blood, they collapsed on the platinum-cyan ground of the planet's surface.
Luckily, the general was a semi-spiritual lifeform like Vekas, so he was able to survive. However, it was evident that the oathweight was taking a toll on him. He could only stay on the planet for two hours before spitting out blood.
The Vyr wasn't only in vast quantity compared to Varkana, but was also far denser. Even if someone's oathweight had the same quantity of Vyr, it would still be inferior to Karsawa's ambient Vyr due to the denser quality.
"I see... and you didn't place the control mechanism over Karsawa in the palace because...?"
"Because Karsawa's Vyr reserves were required for running various experiments in the Aldreach Laboratory. There was also extensive research that needed to be done on the planet. We hoped to create a way for life to exist there despite the dense Vyr in the region. Lastly, the royal palace didn't really have the possible means to contain this control mechanism." Charlie responded solemnly, his brows furrowed.
"Hmm, I still think that you guys should've found a way to make the control mechanism of such a vast Vyr source in the most secure place possible, which is this palace. Or perhaps did your ancestors set this whole thing up as a form of deception?" Revan smirked, a glint of amusement hidden in his squinted ruby-red eyes.
Charlie's brows furrowed further, forming black lines at the top of his face. "Deception? I don't follow."
"Oh, come on! You obviously know what I'm talking about. Everyone knew the importance of Karsawa, and the fact that so many people would be after it, it's quite normal to assume that its control mechanism would be somewhere that's more secure than every laboratory, correct?"
"I have already told you the reasons why we didn't place it in the palace. Where is the deception, exactly?"
Revan snorted, his toothy grin exposing his sparkling white teeth. "That's the neat thing. Those aren't reasons; they are excuses. You don't expect me to believe that Aethelgard, one of the most technologically advanced nations in Varkana, couldn't implement the control mechanism in this palace, do you? I believe it's a no-brainer that there would be a way for experiments to be carried out in the palace as well, correct?"
He sighed, summoning a burrito in his right hand and taking a bite. "The king back then must have been too cautious, or maybe Aethelgard was quite endangered? Either way, I am sure that this former king feared that the palace would be targeted by spies and thus, the control over Karsawa could be confiscated, or worse, destroyed. In light of this, he decided to place the control mechanism in the Aldreach Laboratory to be stored and used by their scientists as they wish, so long as it's not destroyed in the process."
"... the question is, how did the rebels find out that this wasn't the case?" Charlie sighed, his narrow eyes staring at the ground, as if it was guilty of revealing this information to Revan, when all he did was infer from what he knew about Aethelgard.
Yet, this "inference" was dangerous. Suobor, the King who had conquered Karsawa, was indeed an overly cautious man by nature, and with him being around 400 years old and nearing the end of his lifespan, this nature was further amplified.
Thus, he decided to keep it secret where the control mechanism was. According to the masses, no one had a clue where it was. However, if someone were to become an official, they would be told that it was in the palace and was secretly guarded without having permission to even go near it.
Only the highest-ranking ministers, the military general, and the royal family were aware of where this control mechanism truly was.
"The ministers... no, they may be corrupt, but they wouldn't leak this information due to how severe the punishment can be."
"Oh? Worse than corruption? I heard from Vekas that corruption could result in death if pointed out and sentenced," Revan remarked, his voice muffled as he was eating his burrito.
Charlie looked at him, his eyes narrowed. "Indeed. Death would come to them, but not only would it be slow and agonizing, but they would feel immense pain, and [Accelerated Perception] would be activated as well, making it feel a million times more."
[Accelerated Perception] was a technique that could increase a person's thought and perception speed by thousands of times, with the number depending on how strong a person was or how efficient they were with the technique.
Charlie's eyes narrowed as he wondered whether Revan had [Accelerated Perception]. No, he might have an evolved version of it. He couldn't tell since not only was Revan impossible to analyse, but he didn't know the name of this evolved version.
[Accelerated Perception] was a difficult technique to evolve due to how its perks are already outstanding. Even Vekas, a semi-spiritual lifeform, didn't have an evolved version of this technique.
Not to mention that this technique could be used as well, allowing them to perceive and think faster. This meant that they could comprehend a lot more information than a normal person, and that was a double-edged sword.
If one were to be tortured, [Accelerated Perception] could be used on the person, making them experience the pain and suffering far more than they should. Many interrogators used this method to extort information, and even sadists have used it to cause pain and suffering to their targets.
"Vekas is out of the question as well, since he's clearly against them. Plus, the guy loves this nation too much; he wouldn't tell shit." Revan beamed as he ate his burrito.
Since he was a military general, Vekas was well aware of the Aldreach Laboratory's secrets. Yet, suspicion of him was immediately discarded. He served the empire for 500 years. Why would he suddenly give up on it?
"Hmm... then perhaps they got their information when they captured Tharon. They obviously didn't detain the minister and kept him alive for nothing. They likely wanted information as well while waiting for us to show up and save him." Charlie muttered, his thumb and forefinger grabbing his chin as he thought of the scenario.
It made sense. Tharon was the only minister who made direct contact with the rebels by being captured by them. It would certainly add up if he got tortured and gave that information out of fear of more suffering.
"Heh! I expected that doofus to be more talented than that. Turns out, he's a coward, isn't he?" Revan scoffed as he finished his burrito, a faint scowl on his face.
"Sir Tharon indeed was talented. He was the minister of Social Security, after all. However, that doesn't mean that he didn't fear pain. I can understand him leaking this information, considering that he was going to get tortured either way. Still, I can't help but feel disappointed..."
Charlie grew more apprehensive at the thought. If his ministers could leak sensitive information under the threat of torture, then he had to do something about it. This vulnerability was dangerous for the nation's secrets.
"Heh, so what do you want me to do? Did you call me here so that you could ask me to crash in there and wipe out all the rebels and take that place back for you?" Revan asked, his hands on his waist.
"Of course not. I know that you would decline... though if you want to, then I would be very happy—"
"Not a chance."
"Ah..."
Just as Charlie expected, Revan flat out refused.
"Then can you talk to Vekas and Augustus about it? Those two would at least make a plan about this." Charlie sighed. He hadn't told anyone that he knew where Vekas was, nor was he allowed to visit him, since it would attract the attention of an outsider.
"Hmm, sure. I can do that." Revan nodded, shrugging as he placed his hands in his pockets. His suit seemed to radiate as an abnormality in the world, considering that no such clothing existed anywhere else other than his body.
Charlie's lips were pressed into a thin line. He wanted to know where Revan was from. Was he a rogue warrior? Most likely, since he said that he was a wanderer who traveled around as he pleased.
But he could also be a spy from another nation. Wait, Revan is too powerful. He killed the entirety of Broshasa's army in one fell swoop. No way was he a mere spy.
But that still begged the question: who was he?
He wasn't someone who cared about what happened to the nation, yet he was also someone who was somewhat helping him face the rebels. Charlie sighed as he seemed to have a headache despite having [Pain Resistance]. It was truly bothersome.
If Revan were to ever go against Aethelgard in any shape or form, could he really do anything about it? A lump formed in his throat the moment he thought about the possibility.
But before an answer could clearly form in his mind, a bright light seeped from the windows and illuminated the whole room. The windows of the throne room were tinted to the point that even the morning light could barely pass through them, yet this light was entering the room as if the windows weren't tinted at all, but were actually light sources themselves.
"!!!"
Such a sight alarmed the king immediately. He turned sharply to the window, bringing his arm to his face as the light was too much for his eyes. He used [Enhanced Perception] to truly perceive what was going on, yet this technique's range was short for it to cover an entire district, let alone the whole city.
He couldn't detect the source of this light, which made him believe that this happened far away. He gritted his teeth, his mind racing with possibilities as he used [Accelerated Perception] to the fullest.
"Oh? A light boom." Revan muttered under his breath, his brows raised as he turned to the windows, his mouth forming an 'o' shape.
"What?!"
"Huh? Don't tell me you don't know what a light boom is, do you?"
"Of course, I know, but what caused a light boom of this magnitude?" Charlie bellowed.
"Hehe, that attack must have been strong to illuminate even the palace from afar. Well, it is faster than light, so it's bound to be strong."
"That's not the main issue! What the hell is with the magnitude of such an attack?! This must have caused an entire district to collapse!!"
Charlie's face was full of sweat as he realised that things were becoming far more dangerous than previously expected.